This Israeli Surplus Browning project was a delight.
This Mark II specimen began life as an Israeli law enforcement trade-in, one of the FN contract guns from the 1980s. Today, it’s my EDC.
Cop guns may have coffee stains, door knob dings, rust and worn down finishes from holster wear but they are typically in great mechanical condition.
If you really want to make it yours, it will need to be completely disassembled, sandblasted and refinished. Then you’ll have to replace the grips and all the old springs have to go.
All of the old finish comes off with acetone and a wire brush wheel on an electric drill. Then corrosion can be finessed off, using a 600 grit Emery cloth. Dents come out with a lower grit and even more finesse to smooth out any tiny pitting.
Finally, merge and unify the random abrasion into a consistent surface using a buffer wheel on your bench grinder. Get it mirror smooth and glossy. You can hot blue it after that but I wanted a Parkerized finish.
That meant sand blasting it in the small sand blasting cabinet with aluminum media. Glass media is horrible to breathe, the powdery cloud gets into everything.
I used the Lauer Duracoat Aerosol spray-on can.
What’s great about the Lauer product is how much more durable it is over the hot dipped Parkerizing process. It’s also far simpler to apply.
After ordering the Hi-Power spring kits from BH Spring Solutions, it was time to replace all of those thirty something year old springs that have weakened over the years.
I also ordered the Wide Combat Trigger from Cylinder & Slide that doesn’t have the magazine disconnector and got the wrap-around Hogue rubber grips. I always loved how they fit my hand.
The only thing left to order are new grip screws and solid pins to replace the original Israeli roll pins.
Then that old Mark II just needed some lube and a box of ammunition fired down range to break in the new surfaces.
You’ll notice a tighter fit between the slide and frame rails. It’s the thickness of the paint causing that. If you applied the spray on lightly inside those slide areas and masked off the frame rails until the last coat, it will break in fine.
A restored Browning Hi-Power with new springs is a pleasure to shoot and well worth the investment of parts and labor.
It’s not as popular as a Glock but a Cadillac isn’t as popular as a Ford either.
The Browning Hi-Power is an elegant example of design – far more advanced than anything in 1935. The first Wonder Nine before anyone knew what one was.
Now this specimen is truly mine and it goes where I go.